Horizon
by Kaiorven
Summary: That was who they were and that was who they would ever be. The moth and the lantern. The peasant and the prince. The moon and the sun. Hinata muses over her non-existant chances with Naruto. Implied character death. One-sided NaruHina.


Those who don't want to read an uber long disclaimer, skip to the line thingy. Don't say I didn't warn you.

A.N: This oneshot is a kind of present to those who have read and reviewed One Thousand Years of Death. Sorry for the late update. This, for all those who have read to the latest chapter, is the Christmas/ Birthday thing that never made it up.

So now its a Chinese New Year Present!

...

Well, its not as though I could say Valentine's Day! Geez picky, picky people nowadays...

Well, I could. But well... you know... right?

And yes, amazingly, -drumroll- this is Betty posting up a story, not KitKat!

(She's down with a case of lazy-poster-upperness-syndrome-KitKat-style)

-crowd gasps-

So that means no hilarious disclaimer, or uber loooooong warning or authors note in which half of the words are censored.

Disclaimer: Think, people, think! If I were the author of Naruto, I'd be writing fics in Japanese!

...

Screw that, I wouldn't be writing fics at all! I'd be coming up with lame cliffhangers, killing every single romance in Naruto, pulling fight tactics out of my a*** and run through Hokages so fast the Hokage mountain where they carve the obscenely huge heads would run out of room! -coughMasashiKishimotocough-

-Gets bashed up by Masashi-Kishimoto-advocate ninja-

We are sorry for the temporary delay in services and airways. In the meanwhile, grab a pair of earphones and a bucket of buttered popcorn and scroll down.

Warning- Heavily Implied Character Death. I don't know how it happened though... Honest!

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Horizon

* * *

It was like forever chasing a sinking sun that threatened to sink below the ground before she could reach it. No matter how much she improved, how much she persevered, he would never truly notice her, she was in the shadows out of sight from his eyes, in the distance, still chasing him. Why did she bother anyway, if she would never reach him?

She answered herself. If she didn't run, didn't continue to push herself to and past her limits, didn't put in the blood, sweat and tears to keep up, she would be plunged into a darkness that she could not escape until she ran back towards him, crying, sweating and bleeding a trail of despair.

And it wasn't without reward. She had become stronger, hadn't she? She no longer remained on the sidelines, no longer failed her missions, had achieved chunin rank and there was a sliver of a chance of becoming head of the Hyuuga clan, of finally earning her clan's and father's respect. She had earned her place as a ninja.

Too bad she hadn't earned his heart.

And she doubted she ever would. After all, if admitting your love wasn't enough, then what was? He had been nice about it, sure, but it was as obvious as it two years ago who he truly loved. Sakura. And he would attempt to earn her heart or die trying.

And after saving the whole village (again) people had started noticing him. More accurately, Sakura was noticing him, not only as a friend, but as more. She couldn't blame her. After all, he was bright, kind, powerful, all she ever aspired to be. And if she loved him, truly loved him, then she would let him go, let him be happy, even if it was with someone else. Even if it was Sakura. She would smile for his sake. Ignore her own slowly crumpling heart for his sake. For him...

For a minute, she wished it was just him and her, him, staring at the friends he wished existed, and her, gazing at him from behind a post, guiltily red-faced and twiddling her fingers...

She gave herself a mental slap, sickened at her greed. What was wrong with her? Those were the worst times of his life. Before he had his team, before he had Iruka, Kakashi, Sasuke...Sakura...

That was why she didn't deserve him. The torturous years that he endured, the punishment that he never should've or ever did deserve. All of that she had observed, hidden safe in the shadows. It all she could've eased, if she only had the courage to. She had never attempted to comfort him when they were younger, or even now, whether it be her own crippling shyness, or the contempt burning in her father's eyes whenever he saw his face or heard his name. When he needed someone, anyone, she wasn't there with him. Sure, she was there to see him, to pity him, to cower and hide from him, but never to help him, to comfort him. Especially when he needed it most.

She bitterly realised what she was. A coward. She had leeched off his presence, leeched off his strength to form her own, to form herself. Without him, his light, his warmth, what would she be? A mere shadow of despair, still trying to reach yet flinching away from the very light that she so desperately desired but could not grasp.

That was why he chose Sakura. Who would pick her, the Hyuuga reject, a pale flitting moth in the corner, when they could have Sakura, with her brains her strength her careless beauty?

No-one. No one ever did, and no one ever would. The story of her life.

She slid her fingers through her hair, a choked laugh escaping her.

She was the sad girl left behind in the burning castle while the prince rescued the fair maiden in fairytales. She was the sad hapless victim that no-one noticed, the understudy, the person who existed only to show how strong the real players were. Unlike Sakura, or even Ino, she would never get her chance under the sunlight, never have the chance to bloom. She was the moth drawn to the light of a lamp only to wither and burn, the mouse drawn to the fire only to be eaten by the cat. She was the moon, chasing, trailing after the sun, reflecting merely what was given to her, merely a pale imitation of all she desired to be.

That was who she was; the starstruck girl chasing the distant sun, while thorns cut her feet, her body scar-racked with slashes of white and pink and red, her arms reaching out for the light, the knight in shining armour who had his own princess to claim, his own towers to scale, his own dragons to fight. That was who they were and that was who they would ever be. The moth and the lantern. The peasant and the prince. The moon and the sun.

Maybe her cousin was right. She was a coward, weak, a pawn in this game, a cocoon that would never spawn into a butterfly. She would never amount to anything, anything to him, even when she had fought...had tried...had failed...and now she saw the truth in Neji's words, the pity behind the gazes of her teamates, the contempt and hatred in her father's stony silence, the futility of her desperate measures to convince herself that he'd noticed, that he'd cared. Now she saw what she never would accept; he didn't notice, and he didn't care. And he never did, nor would.

The pain was too hard to bear.

Acceptance filled her heart and a bitter sigh rushed past her lips as a daisy, one petalled, escaped her fading grasp. even the wind was against her.

With a last intake of breath, she whispered her Sun's name, the last word the moon ever whispered, ever said, Naruto...

Her eyes close, even as she realised her whisper would never be answered. She would never feel his arms cradling her body, never hear him crooning her name in his ear...but, maybe, it would be better for him if he never knew... never knew how much he truly meant to her...

A smile curved onto her lips, bittersweet, a mere lilt that no one could or would ever see.

_Naruto..._

With the image of his smiling face, the pale flickering light that was Hinata faded into darkness, out of sight, the only sign left a tiny one petalled daisy riding the wind.

* * *

Naruto stiffened, felt almost pale, sick, weak, an overwhelming sensation of emptiness he had never experienced. The feeling coiled around his heart and settled like a gnawing hunger at the bottom of his stomach. Ramen forgotten, he replaced the chopsticks onto the bench with a light clatter. He turned to the woman in front of him, looking over the glowing candle.

"Did you hear that?"

Sakura raised her head and blinked, earrings glittering slightly in the dim light, "Hear what, Naruto?"

Naruto hesitated. He wasn't really sure himself.

"Is there anything wrong?" Sakura's brow creased in concern and leaned forward, so close Naruto could touch her nose to his. Suddenly feeling strange at the closeness, he leaned back and sighed.

Was there? He wasn't quite sure of that either. He swore he heard the wind whisper his name, but now, here, with Sakura, it seemed laughable, stupid.

"No, I'm fine," Naruto replied, not sure whether he was lying or not.

"Are you okay?" Sakura asked again, taking his hand and gazing into his eyes. He looked away, and a strange, impalpable, yet tangible shame seemed to form. He dismissed these thoughts.

He felt the warmth and care in her grasp, the concern in her eyes, and felt most of his doubts wash away. This was where he belonged, where he always dreamed of being, here, next to Sakura. With some of his old boldness, he leaned forward, allowed his lips to grace her forehead. Sakura gave a soft smile.

And yet, it was still there, deep in his mind the shame, and a tiny part of him wondered...

"It's nothing," he smiled, gently taking her hand and cupping it in his own, the grasp brimming with love, "Nothing at all."

The daisy stem that landed on the table top quietly blew off, the last petal lying next to their loving embrace.

* * *

Finis

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Hey, this is KitKat, just finished secretly cleaning up the punctuation and stuff (sorry, perfection is really a handicap). Anyway, for those who read 1000 Years of Death, sorry qabout the late updates, but I'm usually much too busy to do anything I like, let alone fanfiction. And my family is having issues that'd I'd really rather not talk about.

For those who don't know what the hell I'm talking about, check it out; pretty good crack.

This was originally one of the little concotions Betty hid in her closet along with other random skeletons. It was so damn beautiful I gave it a major renovation and convinced Betty to let us post it up.

Anyway, please review. Thank you for reading and for those 1000-Years-of-Death readers, I'll post it up as soon as time allows!

Cheers,

KitKat


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